50 • Sustainability Report 2012
Helping our people to maintain their health and
happiness, we place a particular emphasis on
initiatives that will help to maintain their work-life
balance. We thus offer a comprehensive range of
sports, leisure and recreational activities , many
of which are subsidised by the Group, through
our Sports and Recreation Club. Also improving
facilities at work, we introduced a “Happy Zone” at
our North Point headquarters, to provide our staff
with a comfortable area, not only to rest and relax,
but also to interact and exchange thoughts and
ideas.
A major challenge in our efforts to improve
our gas infrastructure is the shortage of
frontline road excavation and pipelaying
labour as the increasing number of
infrastructure projects, an aging workforce
and higher standards of living, both in
Hong Kong and the region, take their toll.
Addressing the issue, we have improved
benefits offering monthly salaried positions
as well as the right to take all 17 public
holidays during the year. A fund was also
set up in 2012 to pay for life insurance for
the workers of contractors, when workers’
deaths – from heat stroke for example,
are not sometimes covered by Employee
Compensation Insurance.
Simon Ngo
Head of Engineering, Hong Kong Utilities
Towngas Hong Kong
We offer healthy and de-stressing activities such
as Yoga, Kick-boxing, Qi Gong and Pilates. The
“DancingWith Stress”workshops offered during
the year generated particular interest. Receiving
a satisfaction rating of 5.2 out of 6, participants
gained a better understanding of the sources of
stress while also enjoying the Qigong and positive
thinking skills that were a part of the programme.
These activities, together with more leisurely
pastimes such as overseas tours, carnivals, fun
days and cookery lessons all proved to be highly
popular – during the year 1,022 employees and
their families signed up for these programmes in
Hong Kong.
2012 also proven to be a year of engagement
for our people in view of our 150th Anniversary
celebrations. As part of these celebrations, our
Wenxin“warmth and care”programme was
launched, not only to say Thank You to our
employees but also to drive a greater sense of
belonging to our Towngas family. This “Thank You”
took a physical form in Hong Kong when every
employee working with us on our actual birthday,
3 June 2012, not only had their names published
in our 150th Anniversary celebration publication,
they also received a gold coin in commemoration
of their services. Photos of 150 “smiling employee
faces”were also brought together for the cover of
the publication.
Kicking off in 2011, theWenxin programme
included a story-writing competition to highlight
Wenxin-related stories throughout the Group
and a photo competition with submissions being
exhibited at our headquarters. It also touched the
personal lives of our employees with a number of
talks covering topics such as behaviour and body
language – to improve communication and family
relationships, as well as pre-retirement concerns for
those who will be entering this new stage in their
lives.
